Four Eastern Conference teams will be chasing optimal playoff seeding and one player will be chasing history as the MLS regular season concludes this weekend.

Here's a look at the big games and the big name to watch:

The man who matters

Back when Roy Lassiter scored his 27th goal of the 1996 MLS season, the team in San Jose was called the Clash and Chris Wondolowski was in eighth grade.

Wondolowski is now 29. The Clash became the Earthquakes, left San Jose and then returned. Lassiter's Tampa Bay Mutiny shut down more than a decade ago.

MLS' most glamorous single-season record has stood for a long time.

On Saturday in Portland (which had no team in '96), Wondolowski will look to cement his place in history as San Jose (19-6-8) meets the Timbers (8-16-9). NBC Sports Network will televise the match (6:30 p.m. ET), and Lassiter will be in attendance at Jeld-Wen Field.

A game that has no bearing at all on the playoff picture might wind up being the biggest of the weekend.

Wondolowski has 26 goals. He needs one to tie the record and two to stand alone.

"I have mixed feelings about it, of course, but again, I agree, records are meant to be broken and I think Wondolowski is well, well deserving of that record," Lassiter, 43, told MLSSoccer.com last weekend before the Earthquakes' marksman scored in a 2-2 draw with the Los Angeles Galaxy.

"In Portland, we're just going to go out and try to win, add when we try to win we create a lot of opportunities," Wondolowski told reporters this week. "I know I'll find a couple of chances, and it'll be on me to score."

Wondolowski's story is well known but remains remarkable. A Bay Area native, he starred at Chico State University and was selected by San Jose in the fourth round of the 2005 supplemental draft. There were 88 players chosen before him. He went to Houston with the original Earthquakes, played sparingly and returned to San Jose in 2009. In his first six MLS seasons combined, he had seven goals.

Then, in 2010, he netted 18.

"It was just kind of the perfect storm. Everything kind of came together at the right time in my career," Wondolowski told Sporting News this spring. "I loved Houston and learned a lot there, then got to go to San Jose and had a coach (Frank Yallop) who really believed in me and I got a lot of playing time on a consistent basis, which helped my confidence."

Wondolowski is deadly with his feet or his head and is brilliant off the ball, consistently getting into prime scoring positions even when the defense knows he's coming. At halftime of this summer's MLS All-Star Game, Chelsea captain John Terry told Wondolowski, "Your movement is incredible. ... It's like a nightmare for me."

The Timbers have nothing tangible to play for Saturday and have the third-worst defense in MLS. The tight confines at Jeld-Wen Field should cater to San Jose's direct approach, and Wondolowski and his teammates surely want to avenge a 2-1 July setback in the Rose City, during which he managed only one shot.

That was a rarity. Wondolowski has goals in 18 of his 31 league games this year and has scored two hat tricks. He has an MLS-record 11 game-winners.

A much bigger record now is two goals and 90 minutes away.

The games that matter

D.C. United at Chicago Fire. The clubs were building a fierce rivalry through the middle of the last decade, but it trailed off as both struggled to maintain their dominance. United will return to the playoffs for the first time since 2007 (when they were knocked out by Chicago), and the Fire are back for the first time in three seasons.

On Saturday at Toyota Park (4 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Network), the old rivals will meet in a match sure to have a significant impact on the Eastern bracket. United (17-10-6) is clinging to the second seed, a point above Chicago (17-11-5). The winner will secure a bye to the quarterfinals and a decent chance to host the MLS Cup final if the top seeds fall.

The loser might wind up in next week's play-in game. It's an additional hard-fought 90 (or 120) minutes that won't suit the survivor well as it moves on to meet Sporting Kansas City days later.

"I don't even want to think about fourth or fifth place. We want to stay away from that. Let other teams fight that out," D.C. goalie Bill Hamid told reporters.

An additional wrinkle to Saturday's showdown is the rookie of the year battle emerging between D.C. midfielder Nick DeLeon and Chicago defender Austin Berry. Voters might be swayed if one gets the better of the other.

New York Red Bulls at Philadelphia Union. Red Bulls captain Thierry Henry isn't nearly as bothered as Hamid by the thought of an extra game.

"Obviously, the best would be to finish third, but sometimes some of the players in our team didn't play too much this season." Henry said via the league's website. "At the end of the day, maybe if we don't make it to third, it won't be too bad if Rafa (Márquez) can get some minutes, if Teemu (Taino) can get some minutes, if some other players can get some minutes."

The Red Bulls (15-9-9) are two points behind Chicago and would have a good chance to finish third with a win at PPL Park (1:30 p.m. ET, NBC). Three points would be enough if the Fire lose or draw and should be sufficient if Chicago wins (D.C. and New York would be tied on points but the Red Bulls lead the goals-scored tiebreaker by two).

A loss or tie against the Union would mean those extra minutes Henry was referring to. The Red Bulls have won just one of their past five games.

Houston Dynamo at Colorado Rapids. The defending Eastern Conference champs are in fifth place at 14-8-11 and need a win in Colorado (9 p.m. ET) on Saturday and help to avoid the play-in round. Three points at Dick's Sporting Goods Park plus losses by Chicago and New York would do the trick.

Matters of survival

The Minnesota Stars will play for a second consecutive title on Saturday night. It could be the club's last game.

In an odd twist that has overshadowed the NASL (second division) playoffs, the league's reigning champion could face extinction shortly after lifting the trophy. The league-owned Stars lead the two-game, total-goals series against the Tampa Bay Rowdies 2-0 heading into the Saturday decider in Florida.

The addition of the New York Cosmos next season will allow the NASL to maintain the eight clubs required for second-division sanctioning, meaning the league's owners might opt to save money and pull the plug on their most accomplished club.

"This is a very unique situation, and I think there are two truisms: It makes no sense for a league to own and operate a team in the long run," outgoing NASL commissioner David Downs told The New York Times. "By the same token, it is absolutely fair to say the league highly values the Minneapolis-St. Paul market. It is a top-15 market and is quite good for us to be in. With our economic model, a team should thrive in a market that size with long history of support for professional soccer."

The NASL is seeking a local owner, and Sporting News understands that the club likely has the support it needs from NASL investors to remain in business until that new owner is found. Surely, spending a bit more money wouldn't be as costly as the PR hit the NASL might take if the Stars are allowed to fold—especially if they lift the Soccer Bowl trophy Saturday.

The match at Al Lang Stadium will kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET and be carried live at www.rowdiessoccer.com